Sirona
Hindu Wannabe
It has always seemed to me that ritual is an attempt to wield some sort of power (or magic) that one cannot manage otherwise. Rituals can be as benign as trying to bring blessings upon a new child (baptism) or as malevolent as attempting to cause injury or death to another person (through such things as voodoo images and the like).
For that reason, ritual has always seemed like an admission that those performing the ritual are out of their depth, and looking for help. I think there are better means of seeking help at such times. Even the Yellow Pages probably offers hope than performing mindless ritual.
There are certainly rituals performed in a superstitious mindset, but I think it is an overgeneralization to call all rituals superstitious per se. If you perform a ritual, you create some sort of well-being, and by performing the same ritual later, you can "call up" and reinforce the same feeling of well-being. Prayer can be ritualized, too.
As for rituals, I perform arati, mostly with a lamp only, sometimes in the full Gaudiya Vaishnava style (although I lack a conchshell).